Meet the scientists!

I get human placentas (the thing attached to the baby which feeds it during pregnancy) straight after the baby has been born. These are quite bloody and like a large red cow pat. I keep them alive in a special warm chamber and feed them the appropriate buffers. I then put substances in on the side representing the mums circulation and see what goes across to feed the baby. I then establish what nutrient transporters are in the placenta at the genetic level; I have already discovered 3 new transporters.  I can use this information to work out why some babies are born really small and at risk of death and disease. This allows us to find ways of improving their growth in the womb so that they are healthy at birth and not at risk of later disease.

My day is really varied so I never get bored doing the same thing. I visit labour ward and collect placentas and then do really messy experiments with the whole placenta! I also do precise molecular experiments measuring specific genes. I check my e-mail and facebook and do a bit of snacking. Perhaps have a meeting where we talk about the latest data. Analyse data and write them up into a paper which hopefully gets published, or write the data up into a small summary abstract which can be presented at a scientific meeting (this means trip abroad to exciting destination).